


just call my name and i´ll be there

by vicbartons



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Infidelity, reveal aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 22:10:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10885932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicbartons/pseuds/vicbartons
Summary: when robert gets an unexpected call about aaron, he doesn´t hesitate to go and help. their current relationship status be damned.





	just call my name and i´ll be there

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: "i´ll be right over."
> 
> title from "just call" by delta goodrem

Robert was sitting at the table in Keepers with his laptop in front of him, when his phone rang.

The sound was muffled by the mountains of paperwork that Nicola had dumped on him after he and Aaron had returned from their makeshift honeymoon almost three weeks ago. Robert started to sift through them, lifting up pile after pile in hopes of locating the damn thing.

He had found that burying himself in work and hiding from all the villagers with their judgmental looks and their endless gossip at Vic´s was the best way to get through this “pause”, as Aaron had called it. ~~Not that his stay at Keepers didn´t come with its fair share of disappointed, sad looks from a certain brunette.~~

“Pause”. The more he thought about that word, the more Robert hated it. Nevertheless, it was preferable to “fuck off” or “break-up”, so he didn´t dare to complain. It was far more than he could have asked for.

Robert kept rustling through the papers in search of his phone, getting more and more agitated with every ring, when it finally dropped out of one of the piles and landed in his lap.

Him and Aaron were grinning up at him from the screen, dopey, drunk smiles on both of their faces as they sat in one of the booths of the Woolpack on the day of their wedding, Robert´s arm wrapped tightly around Aaron´s shoulder.

As Robert let his thumb hover over the “accept” button, it felt like someone had drained all the air from his lungs. His heart ached just at the sight of his husband whom he hadn´t seen or spoken to in two weeks now.

This would be it.

It had to be.

Sure, once the crying and screaming had stopped, Aaron had said that he wanted to work through things. Together. Had promised that he wanted to at least try to make their marriage work.

But this wasn´t your normal run-of-the-mill fight. Robert hadn´t just forgotten to buy milk, or to screw the cap back on the toothpaste.

No, Robert had betrayed Aaron´s trust in the worst way imaginable and deep down he was quite certain that he didn´t deserve his husband´s forgiveness. Not on this one.

Which meant that this had to be it.

The moment he would pick up that phone, Aaron would make or break them. The chips would fall and determine the rest of Robert´s life, without Robert having a say in any of it.

Aaron held Robert´s heart in his hands and there was nothing Robert could do, but hold onto the tiny sliver of hope his husband had left him with when he´d told him he just needed some space and time.

Well, there was something else he could do. He could just not pick up.

Prolongue what seemed inevitable and instead stay in relationship limbo for just a little while longer. Enjoy just a few more hours of “maybe” before everything would be over for good.

He stared at the ringing phone for what felt like hours, but could only have been seconds, weighing the pros and cons and then,

then he took a deep breath and picked up.

 

_“Aaron, I-”_

_“Robert? Oh thank god.”_ The voice sounded worried, panicked even, but it definitely didn´t sound like Aaron.

 _“Marlon?”_ Robert asked, his voice full of confusion. _“Is that you?”_ To say that he hadn´t expected to hear that particular Dingle on the other end of the phone would have been an understatement.

“ _Yes…I… Vic just send me over with tea, because you know Aaron´s a terrible cook and the door was open so I just…”_ he spoke rushed, stumbling over his words.

 _“What is it Marlon? Get to the point.”_ Robert was growing anxious.

 _“I.. I know you two aren´t exactly speaking right now, but I don´t know what to…”_ Marlon was mumbling, but the concern was clear in his tone.

 _“Marlon, what´s happening?”_ Robert sounded rough, angry even. _“Why do you have Aaron´s phone?”_ He was out of his chair and on his way out the door, because something was cleary wrong.

_“I think he´s having some kind of panic attack or summat and I can´t seem to…”_

Robert was already at the gate of Keepers, his heart beating heavy in his chest. _“I´ll be right over.”_

It didn´t matter that their relationship was on pause, or that he´d promised Aaron to stay away until he said the word. None of that mattered, as he ran down the street towards the Mill, ignoring the strange looks from the villagers he passed, as well as Cain´s comment about him finally making a run for it.

_“Just try to get him to breathe. Slow and steady. And don´t let him out of your sight. I´ll be over in a second.”_

Marlon was still on the line and if he listened closely, Aaron´s hitched breathing was audible in the background.

It sounded like Marlon had put the phone down and Robert could hear him talking to Aaron, breathing loudly and slowly, desperate for Aaron to follow his lead.

Robert sped up at the sight of the Mill´s gate and dropped his phone in his pocket, heedlessly stumbling through the gravel that plastered the ground of the front yard until he was almost falling through the door of ~~their~~ Aaron´s flat that Marlon had thankfully left open.

 _“Marlon? Aaron?”_ Robert was heaving, his running days long behind him, but none of that mattered right now. The only thing that mattered was getting to Aaron.

 _“Living room.”_ Marlon shouted and Robert was by their side within seconds. Ignoring the presence of the lanky Dingle completely, he knelt down in front of the sofa and both his hands found their way to Aaron´s face, cupping it, as he pulled his husband towards him until their foreheads were touching.

 _“Hey there, you´re alright Aaron. I just need you to breathe for me, okay?”_ Robert whispered, his voice all soft now. _“Nice and slow. In and out,”_ he put Aaron´s hand on his chest as he tried to calm down his own breathing as well. He could feel the cold metal of Aaron´s wedding ring press against the palm of his hand as he took another deep breath, his chest slowly rising and falling under their fingers.

 _“R-Robert, I..”_ Aaron sounded disoriented, slightly confused by the presence of his husband, but at least his breathing was slowly starting to calm down as the thumb of Robert´s free hand caressed his cheek.

_“It´s alright, I´m right here. You´re okay.”_

Robert didn´t know how long they sat there just holding each other, him murmuring reassurances until Aaron had calmed down.

 _“You want to lie down for a bit?”_ , he asked, noticing his husband´s exhaustion.

Aaron only nodded.

Robert let go of his husband and went to take off his shoes, before pulling up his legs and covering him with one of the blankets that had been thrown over the backside of the sofa. He smiled at the sight of it, remembering the day Liv and him had picked it out, along with the rest of the living room furniture. She had dragged him away from the more expensive slick leather couch he had had his eye on and pushed him towards the softer looking, grey model instead. (“Just because it looks nice and is expensive, doesn´t mean it´s comfortable. And we both know you´re gonna be sleeping on that thing a lot, Robert.”)

Having tugged Aaron in, he knelt down in front of his husband again and let a hand run through his hair, couldn´t help himself, not when he looked so much softer and younger with his eyes already closed and his nose buried in a pillow, his face no longer scrunched up in panic.

He flinched at a sudden noise behind them.

Marlon had put a glass of water down on the coffee table and was now akwardly standing two feet away from them, his arms crossed over his chest. Robert had been too focused on Aaron to even notice that the other Dingle was still in the room.

He stood up and turned to Marlon, felt the need to thank him, eventhough he couldn´t possibly put into words how grateful he was that the older man still trusted him with Aaron, now that everything he´d done was out in the open.

_“Thanks for calling me. I know I´m not exactly you´re favourite person right now -”_

_“Sure.”_ Marlon nodded reluctantly. His brows were furrowed and he looked like he was holding something back, unsure of whether or not it was his place to interfere.

 _“Sugden?”_ he started.

_“Hm?”_

_“I know it´s none of my business,“_ Robert raised an eyebrow at that. He really wasn´t in need of another Dingle lecture right now. Marlon looked at him defiantly, continuing anyway. _“ And don´t take this as me forgiving you for what you have done to our lad, because i haven´t. But… Figure this out.”_ He pointed between Robert and Aaron, his whole face softening as his eyes landed on the younger man on the sofa. _“He needs ya.”_

 _“Not as much as I need him,”_ Robert mumbled under his breath, hoping that the chef hadn´t heard his confession. He stared at his feet then, shuffling them around, suddenly feeling like an intruder in this place he had never even had the chance to call home. _“Can you stay with him? I don´t want him to wake up alone, but he probably doesn´t want me-”_

 _“Stay._ ” He hadn´t realised that Aaron was still listening. When he turned to look at him, his husband was holding up the blanket with one hand, shuffling backwards to make room for Robert. Marlon took this as his cue to leave, slowly backing out of the room and leaving the pair of them to it.

 _“You sure…”_ Robert swallowed hard, biting his bottom lip. He was desperate to be close to his husband again, but didn´t want to risk pushing too far too soon.

 _“Just get over here, will ya, before I change my mind.”_ Aaron ordered softly, his eyes already closing again.

Robert slowly made his way over to him, unable to refuse his husband when he hadn´t been able to touch him in weeks, but had instead spent his nights in Vic´s spare room, the bed too small and too cold without Aaron by his side for him to get some proper rest.

Not bothering with the laces, Robert slipped out of his shoes and carefully lay down beside Aaron. It took him a second, but once Aaron´s arm found its way around his middle, Robert was finally able to relax for what felt like the first time in months. He drew Aaron closer until his head was resting on his chest and he could feel his now steady breath against his neck. After he had pulled up the blanket, Robert let his hand fall into the heap of brown curls under his nose, slowly running his fingers through them in the way he always had when they were like this. Before he´d messed everything up.

As Robert let his eyes wander around the room, they fell on the unopened boxes with his name on them that were scattered across the living room. His books and comics waiting to either be put away in the new shelves he had carefully picked out months ago, or to be shoved out of the Mill for good, along with Robert. Never to be seen again.

Him and Aaron weren´t fixed. Not even close to it.

But Robert and his boxes seemed to have just earned some more time and for now, that was all he could ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: [@vicbartons](http://www.vicbartons.tumblr.com)


End file.
